To Keep You

Twenty-Seven: Malachi

Blood stained my hands and sweat trickled down my neck, this wasn't supposed to happen. Tsking my tongue, I glared down at the carcass of a mountain lion. It's fur all mangled and bloodied.

My eyes sliced towards Caleb who stood pale and breathless only a few feet away holding a shot gun loosely in his hands.

"When I tell you to shoot, you do it," My voice all but a mere growl, "Do not think for a moment that her suffering is not on your hands."

My eyes slipped down towards the bloody knife within my hand. Its blade still dripping with the blood of the lion's heart.

I'd be awoken before the sun had risen above the peaks by Pa. He'd discovered a calf had been butchered within the field and the tracks did not belong to the wolves. Being the coward he is, he sent me and Caleb to deal with it instead of himself. I knew without a shed of a doubt that he valued his life above all those of his children and even Ma's. If it came to flight or fight, he would run and leave the rest of us to fight his battles.

"I-I didn't know she was running towards us." Caleb's voice wobbled as he fumbled for words. We'd spent all day tracking the lion all the way up one of the mountains and when we finally came with one hundred yards of her. We'd taken cover behind a couple of large rocks. Having only brought one gun to conserve energy, I'd given it to Caleb to hold while I scouted out the best angle to kill the lion in the quickest and most painless way.

I'd just about given him the order to shoot for the head, when he stepped on a trig and made it snap, its sounds echoing off every surrounding surface and alerting the mountain lion of our presence within moments. She'd taken one look at us before deciding we would make the perfect meal. There was no time to ripe the gun away from Caleb and shoot her myself, so without even a thought I commanded him to shoot her now while he still had a chance to hit her in the head or neck. An instant kill that would be painless.

But he had fumbled and shot without even aiming resulting in him blowing through her shoulder and taking her down. The anger that engulfed me could not be formed in words. Caleb was not suited for hunting and never will be. He was too clumsy and lacked the patience's it requires to be a hunter. I wanted Joshua but got stuck with Caleb instead.

I'd nearly called him every name in the book as I scrambled down the rocky path towards the then howling lion. She was immobilized and if kept alive would've most likely lost the entire front leg. There was no other option but to reach for my knife and because of Caleb's inability to follow a command, she had to be hurt twice. 

Sighing bitterly, I glanced down at her dead body and up at the darkening sky. It wouldn't be long before the moon would be upon us, and it was not safe to travel at night without a source of light.

"We'll make camp halfway down the mountain, it's not safe to remain here where her blood is."

Grunting loudly, I hauled her body onto my shoulders in a fireman's hold and began to trudge towards a small meadow. I could feel her blood soaking the top of my coat and trickling down my skin like a wet snake.

"What are you doing?" Caleb asked nervously as he gathered my disregarded backpack.

"Even animals don't deserve to be feasted upon." I grumbled.

Tobias would be hearing about none of this. He would hate us for killing the mountain lion. He would have fought for her right to live as a lawyer would fight for the right to keep his client off deathroll. Tobias does not see the reality of it though, he only sees the pain and suffering of the lion not that of the calf that lost its life. He would have preached to us about how the predator has the right to eat what is on its territory and if killing an animal for what they are designed to do is wrong, then to kill a human for their sins isn't wrong either.

"Look Malachi I really didn't mean to-."

Calebs pleading voice broke through my thundering thoughts, "It does not matter what you meant!" I shouted, "You screwed up! What if we were back in the cabin, huh!? What if not only Enoch but also you lost control of your guns!?" Air as hot as the sun escaped from within me, "Enoch killed three people, three! And it could've been more if we did not get out of there in time!"

Halting myself, my eyes squeezed shut as the memories of holding Candy's limp body against my own as Joshua drove the truck down the road like a mad man. Her blood had been running down my arms as I pressed my hand against her bullet wound. I'd shut out everything including the wind that ripped around us as we sat in the back of the cab of the truck. I'd nearly cried as I'd begged God to not take away the one thing that my soul was blessed with.

Biting back tears, I continued to storm towards the valley, not caring to stay and hear Caleb's excuses.

Within the hour the sun had disappeared behind the mountain and after burying the mountain lion in a deep grave, we began to trek down the mountain in silence. I had no desire to speak with Caleb, I couldn't fathom if my anger was truly directed at him or myself. There was not an ounce of me that did not blame myself for what happened in the cabin. Every mistake is on me, and I feel it as deep as my soul.

"Are we going to stop!?" Caleb bellowed over the howling wind. A storm was rolling in, that was for sure. I could feel it in the wind and see it in the darkening clouds as they hung in the night sky. It would be dangerous to get caught up in a blizzard. The risks far outweighed those of trekking through the woods in the middle of the night.

"No, as storm's coming!"

The wind felt like cold sandpaper on my skin and as my eyes narrowed towards the sky, I silently prayed that Candy was alright.